CBS Wins Monday Even With Its Full Lineup Slipping; NBC Series Falls to Season Low

CBS eked out a win over its broadcast rivals in prime time Monday night, based on Nielsen overnights — even with its entire lineup slipping from last week. Meanwhile, NBC’s two-hour “The Biggest Loser” fell to a season low and finished fourth in the 8 p.m. hour.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that “Biggest Loser” slipped to a 2.0 average rating for its two hours in the key 18-49 demo, losing one-tenth of a ratings point from a week ago. Its number placed it fourth in the 8 p.m. hour behind CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother” (3.2, down eight-tenths from last week) and “Rules of Engagement” (2.8, down three-tenths), ABC’s “The Bachelor” (2.7 for the two-hour broadcast, up three-tenths) and Fox’s “Bones” (2.2, down two-tenths).

Elsewhere on CBS, “2 Broke Girls” delivered a 3.5 in viewers 18-49, down two-tenths from last week, “Mike & Molly” slipped three-tenths to a 2.9 and “Hawaii Five-0” was off two-tenths to a 2.1 — still just good enough to win the 10 p.m. hour.

Fox’s “The Following” was also down, slipping a half-point in 18-49 to a 2.4 average.

ABC’s “Castle” joined “The Bachelor” in bucking the general downtrend. “Castle” rose two-tenths from last week to a 1.8 average in the 18-49 demo, helping ABC come in a respectable second for the night.

Also bucking the trend was an NBC series, "Deception," although it remained in pretty low territory. The series rose two-tenths from a week ago in the 18-49 demo to deliver a 1.3 average — still finishing a distant third at 10 p.m.

For prime time as a whole, CBS was on top with a 2.8 average rating in viewers 18-49, followed by ABC (2.5 average), Fox (2.3) and NBC (1.8). CBS led total viewers with 9.6 million to ABC’s 8.6 million, Fox’s 8.2 million and NBC’s 4.8 million.